Courtyard Barns and the Anderson Ranch are both stunning locations for weddings, but JR noted that they are also mindful of the potential for wear and tear with too much foot traffic in these historic buildings and grounds, so they try to maintain a balance, allowing guests to experience the history without disrupting the historical integrity.
The James Anderson House is probably the most recognizable of the historic structures on the Frawley Ranch. The cutstone house and buildings, built of limestone cut from a nearby ridge, are unmistakable to the south of I-90 east of Spearfish.
“ In the early 2000s,” JR said,“ they completely remodeled the interior of the James Anderson house. It is not original. It is finished off in the era, but it has AC and plumbed bathrooms. After they remodeled, I was told point blank that they didn’ t want anyone in there. I went to the owners and said,‘ Look, we need to use that house or it will fall apart.’” The Anderson House is now regularly used, as a bridal suite and for groom preparations before the wedding, and occasionally it is rented out for other gatherings.
The Courtyard Barns provides guests a real taste of history as an outdoor wedding venue.“ Courtyard Barns existed prior to James Anderson’ s ranch – You’ d have to go back 10-20 years before Anderson, so 1860? That is an old structure …. We’ ve had to augment the structural integrity of Courtyard Barns. We can no longer allow people into the upper parts of the haylofts, for safety reasons …. Courtyard Barns, according to Hank Frawley, is one of two intact remaining sets of courtyard barns in the lower 48. The other set of courtyard barns is out on the east coast.”
Spearfish 2nd graders also get to experience the history of the Frawley Ranch, as they have for a number of decades, going to school for four days dressed in period garb at the historic one-room schoolhouse, a building which has hardly been touched, complete with the old desks and the potbellied stove.
The natural resources on the ranch continue to be stewarded by Elkhorn Ridge Development, with occasional timber contracts to maintain the forested areas. The area around Elkhorn Peak is more or less untouched, and wildlife is plentiful, from bobcats to mountain lions, elk, and deer. Elkhorn Peak, because of its geological significance, is mapped by students at the South Dakota School of Mines, who come out every June, and Native American history is never far beneath the surface of the Peak and its environs. Hank Frawley recollected as a young boy seeing Indian burial scaffolds still intact on top of the Peak, and work on the interstate nearby has been stopped on multiple occasions when artifacts were unearthed.
“ Hank also said that as a boy he could walk through the drainage to the south of the Anderson place and it wasn’ t uncommon to literally kick up arrowheads,” JR said.
“ I grew up knowing the Frawleys,” Maggie reminisced.“ Molly worked with my mom in the school district, and they went to our church. I remember when the ranch sold. Every- one was livid. Everyone was so upset, very anti-development. But it is a thousand times better than the alternative of what was about to take place.”
“ Hank was adamantly opposed to development,” JR said.“ And it all would have been developed, including Elkhorn Peak.”
Maggie added,“ No one else would have taken the time, the patience, the funding, that has gone into preserving all of the history on the ranch.”
135 years ago, when“ the best lawyer in the Dakota Territory” married“ the Jewel of the Valley,” before the first Rockefeller Hereford was bought, before the first failed homestead was purchased, before the next Henry Frawley was born – little did they know what they were beginning to build in the shadow of Elkhorn Peak, or how long it would outlast them. So many ranches with similar beginnings have disappeared beneath asphalt and steel, and their stories have been forgotten. But when the stories do live on, as the Frawley Ranch story has, it is because there are those who care to remember, and to share that with others.
Visit www. elkhornridgeresort. com to learn more about this piece of history, or to plan your wedding or another event.
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